Details of Israel's invasion in the last days: the scourge from the
north at Jerusalem

Chapter 28 sets before us the first elements of these final scenes in
the history of this wonderful people. The scourge comes from the
north. Ephraim is invaded as by an overflowing torrent, by a tempest
of hail that smites and destroys; he is trodden under foot. But in
that day Jehovah shall be for a crown of glory to the residue of His
people. The people morally besotted, do not hear. And this is the
judicial sentence of Jehovah who turns to Jerusalem in pronouncing
it. There they had made a covenant with death and the powers of
darkness, [1] that they might escape the overflowing torrent. But the
covenant shall be disannulled, the scourge shall overtake them; they
shall be trodden down, and smitten by this terrible rod. We have then
this revelation, that when Ephraim shall be invaded by this terrible
scourge, the princes of Jerusalem will seek to preserve themselves
from it by making a covenant with the power of evil. But it shall come
to nought. The waters shall overflow and sweep away the refuge of
lies. Jerusalem, as well as Ephraim, undergoes the consequences of the
assault of the enemy. But the Messiah is the elect corner-stone, the
sure foundation for the remnant; he that believes in Him shall not be
confounded. Thus Ephraim is invaded and Jerusalem taken. There is a
consumption determined [2] by Jehovah upon the whole earth.

[1] They insolently say they have made a covenant with the power of
evil, so that, when the scourge came, it would not come nigh them.
Impossible to conceive a more open defiance of God and His
judgments. Historically they will have done it in uniting with the man
of sin, the Antichrist, whose coming is after the power of Satan; but
here it is said in defiance of God. [2] This expression is used
elsewhere also, as in Daniel, as a kind of technical formula for the
Lord's dealings in the last day -- the finishing of the work and
cutting it short in righteousness. He judges completely, fills it up,
but cuts it short for the sparing of the remnant, the elect.